Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy runs on a keeper during Saturday night’s game against Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich. (AP photo)
EAST LANSING, Mich. — J.J. McCarthy threw three of his career-high four touchdown passes in the first half and No. 2 Michigan routed Michigan State 49-0 on Saturday night.
The Wolverines (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten) were dominant from the start and didn’t let up, predictably a year after the Spartans roughed up some of their rivals in the Michigan Stadium tunnel.
Instead of kneeling to run out the clock, quarterback Alex Orji ran 6 yards for a touchdown with eight seconds left.
Michigan State (2-5, 0-4) has lost five straight games since former coach Mel Tucker was suspended and later fired for acknowledging he had having consensual phone sex with a vendor, who is a sexual assault activist and rape survivor.
McCarthy and Co. didn’t waste much time taking control.
He directed a game-opening, 12-play, 84-yard drive that took more than six minutes and was capped by Blake Corum’s 13th rushing touchdown of the season.
McCarthy followed up with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Roman Wilson, his 10th score this season, in the first quarter and a pair of 22-yard touchdown passes to tight end Colston Loveland in the second quarter.
The Wolverines led 28-0 after two quarters, their largest lead in the series at halftime since going ahead by the same score in 1947.
McCarthy threw his fourth touchdown pass to A.J. Barner midway through the third quarter and with a 42-0 lead, he was mercifully taken out of the game.
The dynamic quarterback finished 21 of 27 for 287 yards with four touchdowns and no turnovers. Barner, a transfer from Indiana, set career highs with eight catches and 99 yards receiving. Loveland was just short of career highs, making four receptions for 79 yards.
Michigan State appeared to make adjustments on offense after it was disclosed Michigan is under NCAA investigation for allegedly stealing the play-calling signals used by opponents.
Reserve quarterback Andrew Schorfhaar left the sideline and went onto the field to tell Katin Houser the play to run in the first half. The Spartans reverted to signaling calls to the offense with two staffers on the sideline in the second half.
Nothing worked.
Houser was 12 of 22 for 101 yards with an interception, which was returned 72 yards by Mike Sainristil for his second pick-6 this season.
Nebraska 17, Northwestern 9
LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska’s success in Matt Rhule’s first season is going to depend on his defense. That much was clear in a win against Northwestern.
The Cornhuskers matched their season high with eight sacks, had their most tackles for loss in four years and held a second straight opponent under 10 points for the first time since 2010.
The offense, meanwhile, continued to sputter against Big Ten opponents and is averaging just 13.5 points in four conference games.
“I want our defense to understand we’re a defensive football team,” Rhule said. “That doesn’t mean the offense takes a backseat to it. It means I expect our defense is going to go win games when it has a chance to go win games.”
The Huskers (4-3, 2-2 Big Ten) have won four of their last five games and matched their 2022 win total.
When Northwestern pulled within eight points in the fourth quarter, the Huskers’ defense turned up its game another notch. Four of its sacks of Brendan Sullivan came on the Wildcats’ last two possessions.
“We go out there with the mindset on defense that we’re going to win every football game no matter what’s going on with the offense, good or bad,” said defensive lineman Nash Hutmacher, who had 2 1/2 sacks. “We’re going to go out there and play the same brand no matter if we’re up 30 or down 30. We knew going in we would take advantage of them pass-rushing, and we really did today.”
Heinrich Haarberg scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 3-yard run just before halftime and put the Huskers up 17-6 with a 44-yard pass to Malachi Coleman early in the fourth quarter.
Jack Olsen kicked three field goals for the Wildcats (3-4, 1-3), who were held without a touchdown for the third time in 10 games.
Wisconsin 25, Illinois 21
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Braedyn Locke threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to offensive lineman Nolan Rucci with 27 seconds left, capping an 18-point fourth-quarter explosion by Wisconsin that gave the Badgers a stunning Big Ten win against Illinois.
“I still can’t believe it,” Rucci said. “It’s like a dream. I saw the ball in the air and it seemed like it was coming to me in slow motion.”
Locke said he thought his throw to a wide-open Rucci in the end zone was high.
“Nolan made a great adjustment to the ball,” Locke said.
That’s not how Rucci described the pass and catch that ended a 14-play, 83-yard drive.
“The ball was perfectly thrown. I’m a tall guy,” said the 6-foot-8, 300-pound red-shirt sophomore. “We repped the play five or six times in practice this week and I caught the ball every time. The passes Braedyn threw in practice were just like the one he threw (in the game).”
Locke was 21-of-41 passing for 240 yards and two touchdowns in his first start since taking over for the injured Tanner Mordecai. Braelon Allen, the Big Ten’s leading rusher, ran for 145 yards for the Badgers (5-2, 3-1).
“Braedyn showed incredible poise. We put him in a tough situation (down 21-7 entering the fourth quarter) and he performed well,” said Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell.
Fickell also showered praise on Allen, who ran for 11 yards on a third-and-10 play to keep the winning drive alive.
“Braelon runs angry,” Fickell said. “Even though we had confidence in Braedyn, Braelon needed to shoulder more of the load (Saturday). When the game is on the line, you’ve got to get the ball to your horses.”
Fickell said he saw a fire in his team in the fourth quarter that opened his eyes.
“When we were down 21-7, I’m sure a lot of people had their doubts that we could come back,” he said. “For the first time in 10 months, I saw something from our guys in the fourth quarter that I hadn’t seen before. Resilience, fight and grit.”
Illinois coach Bret Bielema said the homecoming loss was a tough one to swallow, especially considering it was in front of 54,205 fans, the largest crowd of the season at Memorial Stadium.
“I thought we did enough good things to win,” Bielema said. “We were locked in and we had a good game plan.”
Luke Altmyer threw two short touchdown passes, passed for 100 yards and ran for 100 yards for Illinois (3-5, 1-4). Kaden Feagin rushed for 97 yards as the Illini gained a season-high 223 yards on the ground.
Minnesota 12, Iowa 10
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Dragan Kesich made four field goals and Minnesota won at Iowa for the first time since 1999 to snap an eight-game losing streak in the series, holding the No. 24 Hawkeyes to 12 yards in the second half in a victory .
With the Floyd of Rosedale bronze hog statue at stake in the cross-border rivalry, Iowa appeared to take the lead with 1:21 left when Cooper DeJean fielded a punt that had bounced near the Minnesota sideline and returned it 54 yards for a touchdown. But after a replay review, DeJean was ruled to have made a fair-catch signal before fielding the punt, disallowing the return.
“The receiver makes a pointing gesture with his right hand and he makes multiple waving gestures with his left hand,” referee Tim O’Dey said through a pool reporter. “If you look at the video you’ll see that. That waving motion of the left hand constitutes an invalid fair catch signal. So when the receiving team recovers the ball, by rule it becomes dead.”
O’Dey said the review showed, “indisputable evidence that there is a waving motion with the left hand. And that is when these rules are applied.”
“I was told that he was waving,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “What they tell us in pre-game, a wave is up here, above the head. Most people when they run, their arms do wave.”
Said Minnesota coach PJ. Fleck: “(The official) thought it was a fair-catch signal. I’m not an official, right? But there was something. We’ve been called for that before, when we’ve made any time of movement before the catch, and the ball was dead right there. If it wasn’t, that was a heck of a play by the kid.”
Iowa still had the ball, but Justin Walley intercepted Deacon Hill’s pass with a minute to play.
Down 10-3 at the half, the Gophers (4-3, 2-2 Big Ten) held Iowa (6-2, 3-2) to minus-2 yards in the third quarter.
Rutgers 31, Indiana 14
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Gavin Wimsatt ran for three touchdowns and 143 yards as Rutgers became bowl eligible with a road victory against Indiana.
The Scarlet Knights (6-2, 3-2 Big Ten) equaled their best start since 2012 and tied a program record for conference wins.
“This is a big, big step for the program, there’s no doubt about it,” Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said to players in the locker room. “It’s been a while since this program has been bowl eligible. What did I say?”
The players erupted. It’s been since 2014. But Schiano has qualified for a bowl seven times in two stints at Rutgers and earned a $75,000 bonus this time.
“So that feels good,” he said. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of the way you guys fought through eight straight weeks. … You son of a guns, you battled together.”
The Hoosiers (2-5, 0-4) have lost 11 of 12 games in the conference.
